Eleventh Graders From Yokneam/Megiddo Spend Two Weeks in Atlanta
By Simon Griver
Noa Greenbaum was amazed to discover the strength of Jewish commitment shown by her teenage peers in the Atlanta Jewish community during her visit to Georgia in March.
“I was surprised to see how much they knew about Judaism,’ observed Greenbaum, 16, a student at the ORT Yokneam High School, who was in the U.S. for the first time. “It was also the first time I had encountered different streams of Judaism like Reform. In Israel it’s pretty much Orthodox or nothing. Reform was strange at first but it interests me, especially the aspect of female equality in Judaism. It was the first time in my life that I have religiously observed Shabbat.”
Greenbaum was one of ten 11th graders from Yokneam and Megiddo who spent two weeks in Atlanta in March as guests of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta staying with students their own age. Yokneam and Megiddo are matched with the Jewish communities of Atlanta and Missouri within the framework of the Jewish Agency’s Partnership 2000.
Or Shalev, a teacher at the ORT Yokneam School and a volunteer activist with Partnership 2000 chaperoned the Israeli teenagers during their visit to Atlanta. “For many of the Israeli youngsters it was a first ever opportunity to travel abroad,” she said. “So this was a life forming experience in every sense of the word. It opened their eyes to a lot of things such as different streams of Judaism and how it feels to live surrounded by a Christian majority. But at the end of the day the American and Israeli teenagers were more similar than different both as Jews and as teenagers who love music, movies and partying.”
In addition to school and synagogue visits and panel discussions about Jewish youth and Diaspora-Israel relation, there were also “fun” elements to the program with the Israeli teenagers seeing an NBA game, visiting the headquarters of CNN and Coca Cola.
Amotz Levy, 17 from the Megiddo High School, said that one major difference he found with the American youngsters was their current priorities. “They are much more concerned about their school grades and what college they will go to,” he explained, “while we Israelis are thinking about the army and what unit we will serve in during our military duty. College studies seem so far in the future.”
Perhaps because of the army service, Greenbaum felt that her Israeli peers were more politically aware than their American counterparts. “But overall it was a very positive experience and I’m looking forward to deepening the friendships we made in Atlanta,” she said.
Shalev agrees that perhaps with their upcoming army experiences concentrating their minds the Israeli teenagers seemed more mature. “They are also more independent and allowed to travel around by themselves much more, perhaps because crime levels are so much higher in the U.S.”
“But the main thing about our visit was the warmth with which we were welcomed and the enthusiasm with which we were hosted,” she added. “And at the end of the day the Jewish teenagers, whether American or Israeli, clearly had so much in common.”
Arkady Hasidovich, Partnership 2000 Regional Coordinator of Yokneam-Megiddo, stresses that the essence of the Teen Connect program is in ensuring that the next generation of Israelis and American Jews get to know each other.
“If the unity of the Jewish people is to be sustained,” he said. “then it is vitally important that the younger generation of Jews in Israel and the U.S. get to know each other already, and begin to appreciate the diversity of each others’ lives and their shared heritage. This is one of the most important tasks of Partnership 2000, to maintain this tradition of Jews supporting each other wherever they may be.”
Read an article about Teen Connect at Atlanta Jewish Times Online
